Tarku
by Efli
Summary: Set several hundred years after the end of FF7. It's...odd.


DISCLAIMER : *scans the piece* Well, Final Fantasy VII and Kalm are ©Square, dontsuemepleaseimskint, but the rest's my own, plagiarists will get their small intestines ripped out with a rusty hook. Dunno why you'd want to plagiarise this though...  
  
TARKU  
A Final Fantasy VII Fanfiction by Efli Rilvcue  
  
  
The sun set over the rolling grass plains of Kalm. The steely grey clouds hung low, streaked in scarlet and gold. The heavens seemed on fire, as the sun's last rays leaked out into the darkening night. It was the kind of sky you expect to see apocalyptic riders come out of to the sound of trumpets, scythes and swords and scales in hand.  
  
Raen Vasson, newly appointed Tarku in the service of Midgard, tried very hard to take this as a good omen. He shifted uncomfortably on his chocobo, his spear seeming heavy on his back. He looked over to his companion in the darkening light. "Do you think the gods smile on us, Marn?"  
  
The older Tarku snorted loudly and his chocobo jerked up at the sound, till Marn stilled it with a touch. "Anything's possible, I suppose. By all accounts, they've got an odd sense of humour, though." He looked over at his anxious looking partner and sighed. "Look Raen, Tarku make their own luck. I have no idea what Tilfe or Barr or any of the others are doing on me, but I still intend to carry out this mission. Do you?"  
  
"Of course." Raen said, "I'm not a - "  
  
"Quiet." Marn whispered, holding up one hand and steadying his chocobo. Raen followed suit, glancing about warily.  
  
"What - " he began, but Marn silenced him with a look. He carefully drew his axe from his side, and dismounted silently.  
  
"Over this rise." He said hoarsely, dropping to the floor. "I can smell it."  
  
Raen swallowed, and drew the spear from his back. 'This is it,' he thought as he slid from his mount's back, 'this is where I find out if I can do it.' He crawled up to the top of the rise, where Marn was waiting.  
  
"This your first time?" Raen nodded. "Well, you can turn back now if you want." Raen hesitated, then shook his head. Marn leaned over so he was whispering in Raen's ear. "You scared?" Raen nodded again. "Good. So am I. I'd have sent you back if you weren't. People who fear nothing don't live long." Marn stared into the distance. "Just remember, some of them seem human. It might cry like a baby, or it might roar like a dragon. When you face it, feel nothing. No pity, no fear. Can you do that?  
  
Raen swallowed again. "I...don't know."  
  
Marn smiled, which almost shocked Raen out of being frightened. "Right answer again, kiddo. You've got the right stuff." He twirled his axe and went to one knee. "Let's blow this sucker."  
  
The Tarku charged over the hill, and a deafening roar split the air. Raen felt oddly relieved - it wasn't one of the changemen. Then he took in the full size of it, and his heart sank. His first mission and it was a fifteen foot blue changelizard. Of all the...  
  
A ball of icy cold hit him, and he was flung to the side of the valley. The dragon-thing sniffed the air, trying to find him. He lay as still as he could. Eventually it lay back down and went to sleep.  
  
"What the fuck were you playing at lad?" Marn hissed, dropping down alongside. "Were you trying to be a get yourself killed?"  
  
Raen gritted his teeth. "No, master Marn."  
  
Marn looked at him again. "You alright, kiddo?"  
  
"Yeah. And could you stop calling me kiddo?"  
  
Marn's teeth flashed in a grin. "Sure thing kiddo. Now, let's go. Keep moving this time."  
  
Raen grunted an acknowledgement, and slowly came up into a crouch. He looked at Marn, waiting for the signal. The smaller man nodded, and Raen silently crept to the slopes above the dragon, then turned and watched as Marn crept up next to the dragon's head. The Tarku stopped, twirling his axe, took a deep breath, and shouted in a voice that could probably be heard in Junnen; "WAKEY, WAKEY!"  
  
The dragon leapt to it's feet with an incensed roar, and Marn slipped under the dragon, hacking at it's belly. The creature roared again, this time in pain, and twisted, batting Marn away with a claw. The Tarku rolled, coming back up with axe in hand. The dragon advanced on him, and Marn charged, screaming 'Midgard!'. Raen took this as his cue and leapt off the cliff edge, bringing his spear down into the base of the changelizard's skull. The creature roared, and Marn slashed at it's throat. With one last gurgling roar, the creature crashed to the ground.  
  
***  
  
Raen sat watching the smoke rise into the night sky, blotting out the stars. The only sound was the distant chirp of insects and the scrape of Marn sharpening his axe. Raen stared distantly into the flames as they consumed the carcass of the dragon. As the flames licked over the body it looked even more like a dragon of legend, belching fire and fumes into the night air.  
  
"Where do they come from?"  
  
Marn kept on scraping. "I asked that same question on my first time, and I still don't know. Neither did my master. The sages babble about evil and wells of power, and they don't know either. There's only one thing you need to know about changethings..."  
  
"...how to kill them." Raen finished. "Still, there must be something, somewhere. The Ancients must have known. Or our ancestors."  
  
Marn didn't look up. "Maybe so. But if they did, they perished in the Cataclysm. The ones that have been to the floating city say there's no record there. Nothing else from that time's survived, only ruins."  
  
"What about Junnen?"  
  
"Ack, well they're a funny lot over the mountains. They wouldn't tell us if they did know. No, trust me kiddo, there's no way short of a miracle that the Changethings are going to stop coming, and so if we did know it probably wouldn't matter."  
  
They sat staring into the fire, as the smoke took the stench of mako into the calm night air. 


End file.
